Alcoholic beverages, such as vodka, tequila, rum, bourbon, scotch, brandy and the like are generally produced through a distillation process. Once produced, in order to improve the taste and smoothness of the beverage, many products are aged. For instance, bourbons and scotches are typically aged at least three years prior to being sold for consumption. Rums, tequilas and brandies are aged for varying amounts from two to ten years or even more.
In the past, alcoholic beverages, such as bourbon and scotch, for example, have been aged in oak barrels or casks over long periods of time. The beverages are aged in the wooden containers in order to remove unwanted components and to impart certain colors, flavors and fragrances to enhance the smoothness and taste of the beverage. During the aging process, the distillates can react with components in the wood, such as lignins, tannins, and carbohydrates. Distillation and aging techniques have changed little over the last several hundred years.
Unfortunately, the costs of conventional aging processes are enormous, often accounting for half to two-thirds or even more of the cost of the spirit to consumers. For instance, to ensure product quality, the oak barrels should be stored in warehouses under carefully controlled temperature and humidity conditions for very long periods of time. The barrels are not only very expensive to manufacture but also take up a significant amount of space. Further, much of the alcoholic product can be lost during aging due to evaporation through the pores of the barrels.
In addition, natural barrel aging also presents limitations to the chemical reactions which are believed to improve spirit flavor and quality. For instance, oxidation and esterification reactions which are believed to assure spirit smoothness and flavor tend to be inefficient and unable to proceed to completeness at the temperatures which are preferred for limiting loss of product due to evaporation. Thus a balance must be struck with aging processes between increased temperature in order to promote desired chemical reactions and lower temperature desired to limit product evaporation.
Certain processes for rapidly maturing alcoholic beverages have been developed that involve subjecting the alcoholic beverages to ultrasonic energy. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,063,867 to Tyler, III et al., which is incorporated herein by reference as to all relevant matters, is directed to a process for maturing alcoholic beverages including subjecting the alcoholic beverages to a disclosed amount of ultrasonic energy. However, a need still exists for a device capable of efficiently subjecting the alcoholic beverage to ultrasonic energy. Accordingly, a device for maturing alcoholic beverages capable of efficiently subjecting the alcoholic beverage to ultrasonic energy would be beneficial.